The USFL Championship game on Saturday night capped off a disappointing second season for the league.
Per Sports Media Watch, the game averaged 1.157 million viewers on NBC. Including streaming, the network is announcing 1.2 million viewers, which isn’t significantly higher.
That was good for the second-most watched sporting event on a middling Saturday of live events. A MLB on Fox broadcast in primetime led the way with 1.762 million viewers.
However, Birmingham’s 28-12 win over Pittsburgh was down from both last year’s title game and the XFL title game earlier this year. May’s XFL Championship averaged 1.44 million viewers on ABC, while last July’s USFL Championship averaged 1.52 million viewers on Fox.
Over the course of the regular season, the USFL’s viewership slid compared to the 2022 season. Last week, USFL president of football operations Daryl Johnston admitted the drop was “surprising” and he was “still trying to figure out” what happened. The title game completes the trend of the 2023 USFL falling behind not only last season, but also the XFL in 2023.
The USFL and XFL will both have a lot to prove in 2024. Can either league improve their viewership next season, or will we see another slide?
